Early in this film we get two things pointed out. First we get to meet an old friend of Angel, who is the head of a large private military contractor. Secondly we understand that the President (who is guarded by Angel) is clamping down on private military contractors. The rest of it writes itself from here, and the plot is fairly by the numbers in terms of what it does. Fortunately it has the money to make it look good and have some good action, even if the story is hokum. It helps of course that nothing about it suggests that it is anything more than a B-movie thriller.
It has plenty of military hardware, masculinity, gruff dialogue, and shots of people running with guns; all of which keeps the film moving along reasonably well. If offers nothing more than this. The viewer will know the plot before the film gets there, so one does find that you need the famous faces and solid set pieces to distract; and luckily both do. Engaging but routine action sequences distract, and inbetween I found myself wondering what made Butler into a star, how Perabo looks so terrific when she is the same age as me, whether or not Pinkett-Smith had surgery (well, she clearly did on the basis of this), and if Danny Huston is really a good actor or just has a genetic disposition to being a good screen presence. And on top of that we have Nick Nolte doing top Nolte.
The result is enjoyable enough, but totally forgettable - indeed I often write these little comments months after the facts now due to other time pressures, but in this case I wrote it within a few hours as I figured the film would be gone within a few days. It's fine as late night TV tosh, but nothing more than that.
It has plenty of military hardware, masculinity, gruff dialogue, and shots of people running with guns; all of which keeps the film moving along reasonably well. If offers nothing more than this. The viewer will know the plot before the film gets there, so one does find that you need the famous faces and solid set pieces to distract; and luckily both do. Engaging but routine action sequences distract, and inbetween I found myself wondering what made Butler into a star, how Perabo looks so terrific when she is the same age as me, whether or not Pinkett-Smith had surgery (well, she clearly did on the basis of this), and if Danny Huston is really a good actor or just has a genetic disposition to being a good screen presence. And on top of that we have Nick Nolte doing top Nolte.
The result is enjoyable enough, but totally forgettable - indeed I often write these little comments months after the facts now due to other time pressures, but in this case I wrote it within a few hours as I figured the film would be gone within a few days. It's fine as late night TV tosh, but nothing more than that.